Demon's Souls - Spoilers are Harsh. Evaluate me

[schild]

You're right. Another Centuries Episode. Whoops.

[Azuredream]

Tips on maneater?

Also, is it possible to aim firestorm at all? It just seems to randomly hit certain areas around me but it doesn't seem like it does it in a homogenous fashion, like it's skipping over a few spots.

[Morfiend]

Tips on maneater?

Also, is it possible to aim firestorm at all? It just seems to randomly hit certain areas around me but it doesn't seem like it does it in a homogenous fashion, like it's skipping over a few spots.

Firestorm is randomish, thats to offset its amazing damage. If you have firestorm, Maneater should be no problem. Was for a break in his attacks and run up next to him and blast it and hope you get a good solid hit.

If you are really having trouble, there are a few cheeses you could use.

[cironian]

Just keep running around the brazier thing in the middle of the map and keep spamming the lock button to see if you can get a shot on one of the two Maneaters. With that (and the Lava Bow), it only took me 3 tries since the brazier blocks almost all of their attacks. Just be careful with the rolling, that put me over the edge the first time.

[Tige]

Does anyone have any idea how to get Rydell's Staff without having to go completely black?

If there is one thing I would wish the NA release would bring is the ability to open areas and get all the weapons whether you have a black or white character/world tendency. 

[Morfiend]

Does anyone have any idea how to get Rydell's Staff without having to go completely black?

If there is one thing I would wish the NA release would bring is the ability to open areas and get all the weapons whether you have a black or white character/world tendency. 

Going pure black is easy, its the pure white stuff thats hard. To go pure black just die in body form, and then use a stone of empherial eye to res and repeat. Usually it takes like 4 deaths to get pure black if you are close to neutral.

[PalmTrees]

Well I finished (yeesh, what stubbornness makes a guy do) gotta say it was a pretty anti-climatic end.  Allant was kicking my ass for the 1,000th time until he did this soul-sucking attack. After that he kinda stood there. Started spamming soul arrow and he went down. Sure he attacked once or twice but nowhere near the constant pressure of earlier runs. Like Flamelurker, victory via lame ai.

After that it was following goth girl down to the beach and inside a giant tree worm where she's like "Hey thanks, we're all done here. You can go now." Credits roll.

[Morfiend]

Well I finished (yeesh, what stubbornness makes a guy do) gotta say it was a pretty anti-climatic end.  Allant was kicking my ass for the 1,000th time until he did this soul-sucking attack. After that he kinda stood there. Started spamming soul arrow and he went down. Sure he attacked once or twice but nowhere near the constant pressure of earlier runs. Like Flamelurker, victory via lame ai.

After that it was following goth girl down to the beach and inside a giant tree worm where she's like "Hey thanks, we're all done here. You can go now." Credits roll.

Allant bugged out on you. That happened to me also. I reloaded my game cause I didnt want to beat him with a bug.

[Pagz]

How much does AddedParams add to a weapon? I've played the game somewhat at a friends and I'm trying to loosely organize myself for when the game comes out here. 

I liked how spears worked and I'm trying to figure out of the winged spear or short spear is better. Everyone says winged spear however if you add the Fatal prefix and use dexterity as your primary stat then it becomes an E/A/-/- rating. Or is it just better to go Sharp with a winged spear for an E/S/-/- raiting? I guess it depends on how good "100 Critical" is.

Also is the paring dagger worth it?

[Yegolev]

My trouble with the parrying dagger is that I suck.   I'd like to think it was totally awesome but have not made that determination.

[CaptainNapkin]

Demon's Souls has shown me how old, tired and lazy my gaming skills have become... all while being an incredibly awesome game. I basically picked up a PS3 for this game alone (mostly) based on the frothing here at f13 over it, and although the console itself has not impressed me, this game made it all worth the price of admission.

[schild]

Demon's Souls has shown me how old, tired and lazy my gaming skills have become.

It's not just you, it's the entire industry. And the current generation of gamers is just terrible.

Any place that fails to give this thing GOTY for at least the PS3 if not overall, is a goddamned untrustworthy site/magazine/anything.

This, of course, assumes Uncharted 2 isn't better than the most amazing game ever.

[Khaldun]

Demon's Souls has shown me how old, tired and lazy my gaming skills have become.

It's not just you, it's the entire industry. And the current generation of gamers is just terrible.

Any place that fails to give this thing GOTY for at least the PS3 if not overall, is a goddamned untrustworthy site/magazine/anything.

This, of course, assumes Uncharted 2 isn't better than the most amazing game ever.

I'm still interested in this game. But seriously, this sets all my "Oh it's Schild" alarm bells a-ringing, because any general view of games that says "Games suck because gamers aren't GOOD ENOUGH" is just one step away from poopsocking. Tell me it's good even if you don't think your e-peen is so big you can't even walk without falling over.

[schild]

We're 5 pages into the second thread about it. Frankly, I don't care what alarms anything I say about this game sets off for you.

Also, it wasn't cause and effect. I said AND. The developers are as much at fault as the gamers. If not moreso. Particularly Nintendo.

The industry does not suck because gamers aren't good enough. That's just insane. But games like this getting ignored (which it probably mostly will be by the public at large), is indeed part of the problem.

Tell me it's good even if you don't think your e-peen is so big you can't even walk without falling over.

I've already done that. If anyone here hasn't already bought it, I assume they're waiting for the stateside release. If they're not buying that, oh well. I'm not missing out. Also, it's not even comparable to poopsocking.

[Morfiend]

This game does indeed make you remember what "hard" games where like in your youth. It will make you want to throw your controller across the room, and at other times scream at your TV or just have to walk away. But know this, its not the game being cheesy, its your fault. The game gives you all the mechanics to succeed, it is completely up to you to execute.

I honestly cant recall the last time a games design came together with the programmers execution to create a masterpiece like Demon's Souls.

[Segoris]

This game does indeed make you remember what "hard" games where like in your youth. It will make you want to throw your controller across the room, and at other times scream at your TV or just have to walk away. But know this, its not the game being cheesy, its your fault. The game gives you all the mechanics to succeed, it is completely up to you to execute.

I honestly cant recall the last time a games design came together with the programmers execution to create a masterpiece like Demon's Souls.

As someone who wouldn't fall into the radar of "oh it's schild," I'm quoting this for truth. Just be warned, if you can't handle your own failures and need to blame others...well...this isn't a game for you. However, if you can learn and grow from your mistakes then your improvement at this godly game will be crystal clear.

Plan and simple, this game alone justifies my owning a ps3 and the other great exclusives are all icing at this point.

[ffc]

I was looking for info on what not to mess up as a new player and trying to keep spoilers to a minimum.  I found this video with minor spoilers.  There are two rings not to miss early in the game. 

I likely would have missed both despite one of them being "extremely obvious".    I didn't watch the farming tips because I am trying to keep my spoilers to a minimum but I'm guessing they're solid because the player seems capable at the game.

[Kageh]

Since NA release is around the corner, I wanted to add some of my findings to the guide/spoiler section:

In spite of what most guides on the net suggest, I found "straight" melee with a bit of bow for ranged attacks to be a very viable option. I somehow made my way through 1-4, got the mausoleum key and took Demonbrand(t?) from Old King Doran. Then I proceeded to get my worlds to pure black tendency for the primeval demons and BP item farming and totally forgot about Demonbrand until I had my char tendency to about 60% white (or whatever killing 3 out of 5 BPs at neutral gets you to), when I picked it up again and never put it down after. I've used it through NG+ for about half the game now, after upgrading to North Regalia, and it absolutely destroys any mob to a degree where no magic/backstab/whatever char I otherwise made even comes close. The big downside is that you have work your char tendency up (or down if you upgrade to North Regalia). I think I killed Flamelurker - which I consider the hardest boss for pure melee - in about 6 hits or so in NG+.

My build is mainly vitality/endurance with about 30 strength (for the heavier shields, although I ended up with the +10 purple flame one after much trial/error), enough magic and faith to use talisman of beasts, luck at a trusty starting value of 7. On this char, I only used Evacuate and Water Veil for magic (Water Veil made Flamelurker a lot easier on my first attempt). I'm using full black leather for PVE with some gloom/old king doran armor pieces mixed in for PVP, and since black leather is so light I have full mobility and dodge radius, which is a huge asset.

I've been invaded many times and usually manage to beat most meleers and mages, the only ones that give me troubles are the very fast and unpredictable dodgers that manage to get behind me to backstab.

[Hawkbit]

Having never played the game before, only seeing the 2min trailer, this:

I've been invaded many times...

makes me wonder what I'm getting myself into. 
 

[CaptainNapkin]

I've only been invaded twice, I lost one and won the other. Losing in pvp is no different than any other death, and you will be quite familiar with the process already. In the end it added a good amount of excitement and broke up the gameplay in a good way.

After trying a few different character types and finally settling down to play through with one, my take on character creation is to make what you want to play and put the time into playing it. As has been stated before, getting familiar with the controls and what you need to do with each mob/scenario is way more important than your stats and abilities. Levels help, and upgrade your weapon.

[Kageh]

Having never played the game before, only seeing the 2min trailer, this:

I've been invaded many times...

makes me wonder what I'm getting myself into. 
 

You only get invaded if you play in body form though, so if you suicide in the Nexus (which is a really good thing to do on a regular basis, i.e. after every boss kill, for your first playthrough - you get a damage bonus in soul form, and that is worth a lot more than the +25% HP you have in body form). Also, there are level ranges where this happens more often than others. 50-60 was very frequented, 61-99 not so much, now after 100 I'm seeing them again. AFAIK, the server matches you for people +/-10 levels around your level.

You also usually get a fair shot at the invader, because the game warns you the moment one of them intrudes, and they are visible as black phantoms (and also very noticeable by the way they are moving around - once you see the game mobs that'll make a lot of sense  ).

[ghost]

I generally play offline mode unless I am looking for a fight.  I get too many kiters which really pisses the shit out of me. 

Some suggestions for noobs, after getting through most of the game:

1.  Learn to melee-  I suggest rolling up a toon as a melee spec and running up a few levels just for practice even if you don't want to do melee permanently.  You will die a lot if you don't understand the mechanics and having the ability to do some extra damage is nice for learning.
2.  Magic or ranged is very powerful-  pick up bow or enough magic to get at least soul arrow.  Some things are just too irritating to kill with melee.  Also, bow is better than crossbow and even magic in some instances because you can zoom to snipe. 
3.  Try to kill all bosses in body form.  It will help you get your white world tendency, which is hard to get. 
4.  Tower Knight is really tough.  The only other boss that rivals this one, in my opinion, is Maneater and Allant.  The others are pretty much super easy.  So don't get down. 

[Pagz]

Question!

The wiki is vague about this, can you have Total Protection and One Time Revive active at the same time?

Also Amazon for some reason won't let me pre-order to Australia. Do I have to wait until its out? Is there anywhere else to pre-order it?

[schild]

The wiki is vague about this, can you have Total Protection and One Time Revive active at the same time?

No.

3.  Try to kill all bosses in body form.  It will help you get your white world tendency, which is hard to get. 

Not as hard anymore since helping other people kill bosses helps your world tendency go white, as does killing invaders, etc.

[ghost]

Not as hard anymore since helping other people kill bosses helps your world tendency go white, as does killing invaders, etc.

I have found that I hardly get invaded unless I'm in Shrine of Sorrows.

[Yegolev]

Tower Knight is easy enough with a bow... unless you run out of arrows.

[jth]

Tower Knight is easy enough with a bow... unless you run out of arrows.

And even easier with Soul Arrow :)

[CaptainNapkin]

Tower Knight is the one surrounded by all the archers? If so I found him extremely easy...

[Kageh]

3.  Try to kill all bosses in body form.  It will help you get your white world tendency, which is hard to get. 

AFAIK (at least according to the wiki and my observations), with 1.04 it makes no difference whether you are in body or soul form when killing a boss, it always shifts WT to white. But dying in body form in a world will shift that world to black, so that's why I always recommend playing them in soul form. Plus, you get a damage bonus in soul form.

[complicated paragraph with lots of ... tendency references following]

The safest method to get guaranteed white world tendency is the one described in the wiki. Leave at least one boss alive in that world. Gather about 5-7 ephemeral stones, spam suicide/resurrect in the world (not in the Nexus!) and zone to Nexus to check the tendency. Once it gets to pure black - which you can confirm by looking for the black phantom NPC which is usually close to to some archstone - kill the black phantom NPC and the primeval demon without zoning back to the Nexus. It is crucial to not zone back to the Nexus because killing only one of those will make your world tendency shift +3 to white and the other would despawn once you zone back (world tendency is only updated when you zone to Nexus, this is why killing one for +3 and the other for +3 without zoning back is possible for a +6 shift to white). Then, make your way to the boss and kill it, and you will end up with  pure white. You can zone back to Nexus before the boss battle, but, again, not between the BP NPC and the primeval. I've done it this way about 15 times so far and it has always worked.

[ghost]

Tower Knight is very easy with ranged (as are all the bosses).  I think it is beneficial to learn to melee him though.  He is definitely one of the tougher bosses to melee, particularly on the first time or so going against him.

[Morfiend]

Tower Knight is really tough the first few times you go against him if you are pure melee as I was. I picked up soul arrow and it was cake.

The one boss that gave me a ton of trouble was Maneater. I think I tried him maybe 30 times before I got the kill.